Hopeless Wanderer
by DalstinKyukiMikileyluv
Summary: Not J.K. Rowling, of course and very sadly so. Neville runs away to the Forbidden Forest after another day of Snape's awful treatment. Luna is the only one who can find him.


Hopeless Wanderer

~I hear your voice, I came out of the woods by choice~

NEVILLE-

I huddle the high and a small bush on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. I can't force myself to go any farther in, and yet I can't come out either. Not just yet. About an hour ago, Harry, Hermione, and Ron came looking for me. Their voices were distant because they didn't come near the forest. No one expects me -useless, stupid Neville- to be where so many other students are afraid to go. I wish Snape would leave me alone, but he seems to grow harsher when no one else is around to witness my pain. It hurts. I can hardly take it anymore.

I wipe away tears of frustration. I hate that I allow myself to get so upset over this. Crying alone in a forest just isn't one of the things that I expected to be part of my Hogwarts experience when I got my letter two years ago, but this is the third time I've done so. I wish that I wasn't so weak. I wish I was more like Luna. She's strong, amazingly so. People never treat her the way she deserves to be treated, but she never lets that change how she feels about herself. She always has a smile on her face. She's always around help other people feel better. She's wonderful.

LUNA-

My wrackspurt searching goggles slide forward on my nose and I push them back in place. If I can't find Neville , I don't know what will happen. I think that I'm the last person who is still looking for him. He means so much to me. I can't leave him on his own. I know what happened today, and I know it's been happening since his first day at Hogwarts. I find it sad that I know so much more about him than his classmates, and that I care so much more than anyone else. They discount me because they think I'm loony. I think a little eccentricity is essential for anyone to truly be happy. He doesn't know, but he's my eccentricity. If the election chasing had silly tone around school. If something in his eyes, something that I want to be able to name. No one has ever bothered to put a name to the things happen to Neville, but to me it is so important.

Wrackspurts. Neville has always had a lot of wrackspurts in his head. That might have something to do with his... latent ability. He's smart, but he doesn't know how smart he could be. I'm approaching the Forbidden Forest. This is the last place I have to look. Somehow, I know that this is the first place I should have looked. Somehow, I know that he's here.

I walk to the edge of the forest and call out softly, "Neville? Neville, please come out. I know you're here,"

There is a rustling sound. It's slight, and others wouldn't be able to hear it, but my turnip earrings are more than just for show.

"Neville, I can hear you moving," I say.

Behind the rustles, now loud as he crawls out from behind the bush, I notice that he's crying.

He slowly stands and walks to me.

NEVILLE-

"How did you find me?" I ask Luna quietly.

She walks closer to me.

"You don't have to come out of the forest alone anymore," she says dreamily.

I look into her eyes and find myself almost understanding.

"They're a nice place, the woods. Lots of trees. And animals," she says.

I smile.  
"I could sit with you, if you like," she says.

Suddenly, it doesn't matter how she found me.

"Do you want to sit with me now?" I ask. I'm half expecting her to laugh in my face and go off after a Blinklesnort, or some other creature I've never heard of. She nods and takes my hand in hers while walking around the bush I've crawled out of.

"We could just sit behind it. Inside a bush isn't always the best place to escape your troubles," she says.

"Luna?" I say.

She looks at me and smiles. Luna lays her head on my shoulder and keeps holding my hand.

"I like your particular breed of wrackspurts immensly," she says quietly.

I decided that it's better left unsaid. I lay my head on top of hers.

"Me too," I say, "Me too."


End file.
